Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to just over four years in prison on Friday after being convicted on prostitution-related charges involving his two ex-girlfriends.
Combs’ attorneys argued for a 14-month sentence, saying their client is reformed after serving 13 months in a New York jail, but prosecutors wanted 11 years, citing his domestic violence history.
In addition to prosecutors detailing Combs’ abuse, the court heard from several of Combs’ children, some openly sobbing; defence attorneys who called him inspiring; and finally, an apologetic Combs himself.
In the end, Judge Arun Subramanian said a significant sentence was required as a deterrent, and to send a message.
Before the judge delivered the 50-month sentence, Combs addressed the court – his first public words since the trial began.
Combs apologised to his victims, specifically naming his two ex-girlfriends, Casandra Ventura, and “Jane”, who testified under a pseudonym.
“My actions were disgusting, shameful, and sick,” he said. “I got lost in excess, I got lost in my ego.”
He went on to apologise to his mother and his children.
“I’m so sorry. They deserved better,” he said, referring to his seven children, most of whom were in the courtroom.
Then he begged the judge for a second chance, saying he would never jeopardise time with his family again. “I ask your honour for mercy. I beg your honour for mercy,” Combs said.
“I don’t have nobody to blame but myself. I know that I’ve learned my lesson.”
In the nearly two-month federal trial in New York City, prosecutors accused Combs of using his celebrity status and sprawling business empire to run a criminal enterprise and sex traffic his former girlfriends.
Prosecutors argued Combs sex trafficked women through “freak-offs”, or encounters in which he would pay male escorts to have sex with his girlfriends while he watched and filmed.
The government argued Combs coerced the women into unwanted sexual encounters with drugs and physical violence.
Combs, 55, was found not guilty in July of the most serious charges against him, racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking of his two ex-girlfriends, Ms Ventura and “Jane”. He was convicted on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.
But he rejected the defence’s portrayal of his relationships with Ms Ventura and Jane as intimate and consensual. “You abused them, physically, emotionally and psychologically,” he said.
Both women had trauma that will last a lifetime, the judge said. “You had the money and the power to keep it going,” he said. “This was subjugation.”
“This is the reality of what happened.”
